Visa

The payment network behind Visa cards. Visa does not issue cards or lend money; it connects banks, shops and cardholders so a tap or click becomes a completed payment. It has UK graduate, internship and degree-apprenticeship routes.

About Visa

Visa is one of the world's biggest payment companies. It does not issue cards, lend money or set the fees you pay. Instead it runs the network that connects your bank, the shop's bank and the shop, so that when you tap a card or click "pay" the money moves in a couple of seconds. Visa-branded debit, credit and prepaid cards are issued by banks and other providers, and Visa's network, VisaNet, handled around 257 billion transactions in 2025, according to Wikipedia.

Visa's roots go back to 1958, when Bank of America launched the BankAmericard credit card programme in Fresno, California. The programme was renamed Visa in 1976, with Dee Hock credited for the name and for building the independent organisation. Today the company is headquartered in San Francisco. In 2016 it bought Visa Europe, a cooperative owned by more than 3,700 European banks and payment providers, which is why Visa has a large presence in London and one of its four main data centres is in the city.

Visa's products include debit, credit and prepaid cards, contactless payments, commercial payment tools for businesses and governments, and fraud-protection and dispute-handling services. It also sponsors big events such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Rugby World Cup, and it works with Apple and other companies that put cards into phone wallets.

Visa says it wants to help people and businesses everywhere pay and get paid. We did not find a formal company mission statement in the pages we read, so that wording is ours. Its charity arm, the Visa Foundation, says its mission is to support inclusive economies.

For young people in the UK, Visa's own UK careers site describes three routes: graduate roles, a three-month summer internship open before you graduate, and a four-year degree apprenticeship in which you work, rotate through different teams and finish with a BSc (Hons). Visa says over 80 school and college leavers have joined its apprenticeship since 2011. The pages we read do not say which UK city each route is based in, so check the current listings.

What they do

• {'desc': "Debit, credit and prepaid cards run on Visa's network, issued by banks and other providers.", 'title': 'Card network'}
• {'desc': 'Tap-to-pay and phone wallets such as Apple Pay.', 'title': 'Contactless and mobile payments'}
• {'desc': 'Commercial payment tools for companies and public bodies.', 'title': 'Business and government payments'}
• {'desc': 'Tools that help banks and shops spot fraud and settle disputes.', 'title': 'Fraud and dispute services'}

Key facts

• Headquarters: San Francisco, USA
• UK presence: Visa Europe (acquired 2016) with a large London operation
• Origins: 1958, Bank of America's BankAmericard programme in Fresno, California; renamed Visa in 1976
• UK early careers (stated on visa.co.uk): graduate roles, 3-month summer internships, 4-year degree apprenticeships

Website: www.visa.co.uk